China asks U.S. for information on missile hit

BEIJING (AP) — China asked the U.S. on Thursday to release data on the missile hit on an ailing spy satellite, while the Communist Party’s newspaper blasted what it called Washington’s callous attitude toward the weaponization of space.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the United States is determined to be open about the U.S. operation and told reporters during a visit to Hawaii that “we are prepared to share whatever appropriately we can.”

Earlier Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Beijing was asking the U.S. to “provide to the international community necessary information and relevant data in a timely and prompt way.”

The overseas edition of People’s Daily excoriated Washington for opposing a recent Russian-Chinese proposal on demilitarizing space.

“One cannot but worry for the future of space when a great nation with such a massive advantage in space military technology categorically refuses a measure to prevent the militarization of space,” the paper said.

Washington has rejected the Russian-Chinese proposal because it would prohibit an American missile interceptor system in the Czech Republic and Poland, while exempting Chinese and Russian ground-based missiles that can fire into space.

China’s objections signal its skepticism over whether the satellite hit was necessary and its unease over apparent U.S. mastery of a military technology that Beijing is also pursuing. They also appear aimed at turning the tables on U.S. criticism of Beijing’s own shootdown of a defunct Chinese satellite last year.